Lantern.



F. N. THIEL.

' LANTERN. APPLICATION FILED APRJB, 1910 Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK N. THIEL, 0F SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO B. n. nrnrz ooMrANY,OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LANTERN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

Application filed April 18, 1910. Serial N 0. 556,144.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK N. THIEL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lanterns, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in bail holders which areprovided on lanterns for holding the bail of the lantern yieldingly inan upright position.

The object of this invention is to provide a bail holder for thispurpose of simple and inexpensive construction, which can be readilysecured to the frame of the lantern and will yieldingly engage the bailfor holding the same in both its upright and lowered positions, andwhich, when applied to tubular lanterns, will be concealed within thetube where it will be protected from injury in the handling of thelantern and will not detract from the appearance of the tube.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly insection, of the upper portion of a tubular lantern provided with a bailholder embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectionalelevation, on an enlarged scale, of the bail holder and adjoining parts.Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line 33, Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a similarview, showing the bail in its lowered position at the side of thelantern. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary front elevation, partly in section, ofa lantern tube of different construction showing the bail holder appliedthereto. Fig. 6 is a cross section thereof on line 66, Fig. 5.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the several figures.

In Figs. 1%, the bail holder is shown applied to a tubular lantern ofcommon con struction having air tubes which are rectangular in crosssection. In these figures, A represents the top of the lantern, B thetubes having horizontal top portions 6, and C the bail which ispivotally secured to the tubes by hooked ends 0 which extend throughsuit able eyelet openings 0 in the outer sides of the tubes. All ofthese parts may be of any suitable construction.

D represents the bail holder which is of U-shape and comprises spacedflexible sides or arms (Z (land a connecting portion d. The holder isadapted to be secured to one of the tubes of the lantern adjacent to thebail in such a manner that its sides or arms will extend into the. tubeand straddle the end of the bail within the tube. This is preferablydone, as shown, by providing the upper face of the top portions 12 ofthe tube adjacent to its outer ends with suitable slots d d throughwhich the arms cl cl are inserted into the tube, the connecting portiond resting on the upper face of the tube between the slots and solderedor otherwise secured thereto. This forms an easy and inexpensive meansof securing the holder to the tube but any other suitable means may beemployed for this purpose, if desired.

The flexible sides or arms 03 d of the holder stand substantiallyparallel with the end a of the bail on opposite sides thereof when thebail is in its upright position. The end portion 0 of the bail is offsetor bent to stand at an angle to the pivotal line, so that a turningmovement of the bail will cause this end portion to move to one side,thereby bringing the offset end portion of the bail in forcible contactwith an arm of the holder. This arm opposes further movement of the endin that direction and the holder thus tends to hold the bail upright andprevent it from dropping down on either side of the lantern, but theengaging side arms (Z d are sufiiciently flexible so that they willyield to allow the bail to be readily moved out of its upright position,when desired.'

When the bail is in its lowered position at the side of the lantern, asshown in Fig. 4, it bears at one end against one of the side arms of theholder and is yieldingly held thereby from return movement. The bail isthus retained in its lowered position but can be readily moved therefromwhen desired.

In Figs. 5 and 6, the bail holder is shown applied to a lantern tube ofdifferent construction which is substantially round or oval in crosssection and is curved at its up per end to form the top portion thereof.In these figures E represents the tube, F the bail, f the hooked endthereof and G the bail holder. The bail holder is inserted into the tubefrom the inner side thereof opposite to the end of the bail and issecured therein with its ends in engagement with the opposite sides ofthe end of the bail. The sides of the bail holder are made somewhatwider than in the construction first described so.

that they will remain in engagement with .the end of the bail throughoutthe entire turning movement thereof. They stand upright on each side ofthe end of the bail and tend to yieldingly oppose any turning of thebail from its upright position, and when the bail is in it-sloweredposition on either side of the lantern, they will yieldingly reslst anyreturn movement thereof.

While the bail holder has been shown and described as applied to tubularlanterns, 1ts use is not limited to these and it may be employed uponlanterns of various other types and styles, and instead of providing oneholder, as shown, two holders, one for each end of the bail, may beemployed, if desired. The holder is rigidly secured to the frame and hasyielding engagement with the bail. his simple and inexpensive inconstruction and can be readily applied to lanterns of standard typeswithout requiring any ma terial change in the construction of the frameand bail.

When used on tubular lanterns, the holder is concealed within thelantern tube and has no projecting parts which are liable to becomebroken in shipping and handling the lantern, nor does its presence onthe lantern in any way change or alter the appearance thereof.

I claim as my invention: 1. The combination with a lantern frame whichis rigidly secured to said frame and which comprises flexible arms whichstrad- -dle a portion of the bail extending beyond the pivot thereof andoperating to deflect one of said arms upon moving the bail out of itsposition of rest, such deflected arm yielding to the movement of thebail from a portion offset from the )ivot thereof, of a ball holderwhich is rigid y secured to said frame and which comprises flexiblemembers between which said offset portion engages, whereby said bail isyieldin 1y held in its raised position but permitted to be turned out ofsuch position, by which movement one of said members is deflected orstrained, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a lantern tube and a bail, of a bail holderwhich is secured to the tube and yieldingly enga es a part on the bailwithin the tube for holding the bail in its upright position,substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with a lantern tube and a bail having an end whichprojects into the tube, of a bail holder which is secured to said tubeand yieldingly engages the projecting end of said bail within said tubefor holding the bail in its upright position, substantially as setforth.

5. The combination with a lantern tube and a bail havin an end whichprojects into the tube, of a bail holder which is secured to said tubeand has spaced arms which extend within said tube and yieldingly en agethe opposite sides of the projecting end of the bail for holding thebail in both its upright and lowered positions, substantially as setforth.

Witness my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. FRANK N. THIEL.

Witnesses:

P. L. SALMON, MOSE F. WHELAN.

